By Francisca Oluyole From 2016 to 2020, Nigeria recorded approximately 1.6 million grams. It gold reserve has been estimated to be over 1 million ounces in Osun where detailed exploration and reserve estimation has been done. Gold in Nigeria was dated back to 1913. Major gold occurrences are found at various locations in the schist belt of the country; Zamfara, Kebbi, Kaduna, Niger, Osun, Kogi, Oyo, Cross River and Kwara states. Gold mining in Nigeria is predominantly carried out by licenced small-scale miners and informal artisanal miners. Due to the informal component of gold mining activities, the exploitation of the resources in the country was associated with a lot of illicit activities that gave rise to insecurity.